Quinn Creams it During Five Day Home Stop Over Before Hawaii

Gisborne's Jay Quinn has topped off the briefest of home stopovers this weekend by winning the O'Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro - event one of the SOL Surf Series for 2010/11. In doing so he is the first surfer to secure a crucial spot in the SOL Super 16 that completes the Series in April 2011.

Quinn battled through three heats to make it to the final with the event being staged at 'Centres' Makorori for the final day, tucked away from the southerly wind that continued to clip the most eastern tip of New Zealand. The surf remained wild with 1.5 - 2.0m waves that eased throughout the day.

"I made my way home from Europe late last week, I only found out the event was on just before I left" said Quinn. "But it is good to come back and win an event, certainly one with a prize purse."

Quinn, along with New Zealand's surfing elite, paid tribute to Andy Irons with an emotional minutes silence at the prize giving. The tragic passing of Irons was a talking point throughout the weekend with surfers still coming to grips with his death. This morning the talk quickly turned to Kelly Slater winning his tenth world title in Puerto Rico.

However, back in the waters of Gisborne, Quinn was in devastating form throughout the day posting the highest heat score of the Open Men's Division - 16.17 out of a possible 20 in the early rounds through 9.0 and 7.17 point rides.

In the final, as the waves continued to blow out, Quinn's performance was not quite as sharp, nevertheless he posted 12.93 points in the final.

Quinn will make the most of his wildcard slot into the SOL Super 16 as he will be away from New Zealand for some of the events on the series and may not be able to secure enough points via the usual route. His international sojourn starts on Tuesday when he jets his way to Hawaii to contest the final two events of the year.

"It has been an average couple of month's results wise for me so it is good to get the ball rolling again here and hopefully I can go to Hawaii and get through some heats" said Quinn.
 

Quinn defeated fellow Gisborne surfer and sponsor of the event through Sequence Surf Shop, Blair Stewart. Stewart looked good all event and kept pace with Quinn in the final posting 11.50 points.

Tim O'Connor (Mnt) placed third in the final ahead of fellow Mount surfer Alex Dive, the two BOP surfers unable to keep pace with the Gisborne duo despite looking sharp all event.

Earlier in the day Stewart and O'Connor eliminated a tiring Tane Wallis (Piha) and 2009 finalist Nick White (Mnt) in the first semifinal. Quinn and Dive eliminated Keone Campbell (Tara) and Sam Willis (Gis) in the second semifinal.

Jessica Santorik (Rag) claimed the Open Women's Division with one minute remaining in the final.

Santorik was languishing in third place in the final before posting the final-high 8.17 point ride with three minutes remaining. Santorik then had to battle out through the whitewash enough to turn in the dying stages of the heat, requiring a 2.4 point ride and catch a small wave. Eventually the scores came through and the ride was enough, the judges awarding her a 4.0 point ride and the win to defend her title.

Santorik will be stoked to get a win before she too flies out to Hawaii on for the final event of the ASP World Women's World Tour.

"I am so stoked I won this event" said Santorik. "I wasn't even going to come down to this event because I have to get ready for Hawaii and I leave on Tuesday, but this win has made the trip well worthwhile" added Santorik.
 

Grace Spiers (WGM) took control of the final midway through with a 7.0 point ride but could not find a second good scorer and had to settle for second. The result is the best Spiers has secured in three years after she won the Open Women's Division at a national event staged at Mount Maunganui in 2007 at the age of 14.

New Zealand representative Laura Rishworth (Mnt) struggled to find a decent wave that offered up more than one turn, scoring an 8.33 point heat total in the final and finishing in third place ahead of Alexis Poulter (Rag) in fourth scoring 6.33.

Tairua surfer Sean Peggs claimed back-to-back Series wins after placing second in the Under 20 Men's final behind Tane Wallis (Piha). Peggs was in a head-to-head battle with fellow finalist Johnny Hicks (Gis), the highest placed of the two surfers set to win the Series. Hicks placed fourth in the final.

"Definitely stoked to get it over Johnny 'cos he was the form guy going into the final with the highest heat scores" said Peggs. "I needed to beat him and that is what ended up happening" Despite not winning the event Peggs said the "main focus" was winning the Series and whatever else came, was a bonus. "A win would have been nice but happy to come second" added Peggs.
 

However in the final it was Tane Wallis who bested Peggs scoring 14.97 out of a possible 20 to Peggs' 14.43 heat total.

"Its awesome, I'm over the moon" said Wallis. "I just came down hoping for a good result and this is more than I ever expected. It is my first win in the Under 20 Division and actually first final I have ever made" added Wallis.
 

Wallis was in supreme form all weekend surfing with exceptional speed. His surfing also saw him place fifth in the Open Men's Division equalling his best ever result in that division.

"Stoked to make the semis, I lost in the semis but wanted to break my personal best result. I think losing in that semi amped me up for the final of the Under 20s" said Wallis.
 

Placing third in the Under 20 Men's Division final was Hawkes Bay surfer Tyler Lawson scoring 11.17 and posting his best ever result on the SOL Surf Series.

Despite plenty of confidence in everyone's picks for the 'Facebook Finalists Challenge', they were all thrown out the window when overwhelming finals favourite Maz Quinn (Gis) was ousted in the quarterfinals. No one was able to pick the four finalists with only three people picking three finalists correctly. Nat Day, Nicola Colson - Koster and Sam Guthrie got three finalists correct with the prize pack going to Sam Guthrie from Mount Maunganui after being randomly selected. He receives an O'Neill Psycho 2 wetsuit, $500 prize pack from Sequence Surf Shop and five dozen SOL beer.

O'Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro Makorori Beach, Gisborne Today

Open Men's Round 2

Heat 1
Tim O'Connor (Mnt), 1, Jarred Hancox (Tara), 2, JC Susan (Mnt), 3, Ben Poulter (Rag), 4

Heat 2
Blair Stewart (Gis), 1, Nick White (Mnt), 2, Dean Hishon (Rag), 3, Tim Thompson (Auck), 4

Heat 3
Tane Wallis (Piha), 1, Tyler Lawson (HBay), 2, Ben Kennings (WGM), 3, Jacob Kohn (Gis), 4

Heat 4
Maz Quinn (Gis), 1, Johnny Hicks (Gis), 2, Damon Gunness (Gis), 3, Scott Bell (Mur), 4

Heat 5
Brent Rasby (Gis), 1, Che Whitaker (Gis), 2, , Dane Simpson (Gis), 3, Luke Hughes (Rag), 4

Heat 6
Alex Dive (Mnt), 1, Sam Willis (Gis), 2, Leon Santorik (Rag), 3, Owen McMillan (Gis), 4

Heat 7
Adam Grimson (Gis), 1, Chris Malone (Gis), 2, Zen Wallis (Piha), 3, Braedon Williams (WGM), 4

Heat 8
Jay Quinn (Gis), 1, Keone Campbell (Tara), 2, Sean Peggs (Tai), 3, Joe Moretti (Mimiwhangata), 4

Open Men's Quarterfinals

Heat 1
Tim O'Connor, Mnt, (15.47) 1, Blair Stewart, Gis, (7.5) 2, Tyler Lawson, H-Bay, (6.5) 3, Johnny Hicks, Gis, (4.6) 4

Heat 2
Nick White, Mnt, (13.43) 1, Tane Wallis, Piha, (12.83) 2, Jarred Hancox, Tara, (12.67) 3, Maz Quinn, Gis, (8.3) 4

Heat 3
Keone Campbell, Tara, (12.3) 1, Alex Dive Mnt, (11.47) 2, Brent Rasby, Gis, (10.8) 3, Chris Malone, Gis, (8.33) 4

Heat 4
Jay Quinn, Gis, (13.93) 1, Sam Willis, Gis, (11.5) 2, Adam Grimson, Gis, (10.27) 3, Che Whitaker, Gis, (7.83) 4

Open Men's Semifinals

Heat 1
Blair Stewart, Gis, (14.0) 1, Tim O'Connor, Mnt, (11.73) 2, Tane Wallis, Piha, (9.43) 3, Nick White, Mnt, (7.67) 4

Heat 2
Jay Quinn, Gis, (15.4) 1, Alex Dive, Mnt, (14.0) 2, Keone Campbell, Tara, (9.7) 3, Sam Willis, Gis, (7.5) 4

Open Men's Final

Jay Quinn, Gis, (12.93) 1, Blair Stewart, Gis, (11.5) 2, Tim O'Connor, Mnt, (9.33) 3, Alex Dive, Mnt, (4.90) 4

Under 20 Men's Final

Tane Wallis, Piha, (14.97) 1, Sean Peggs, Tairua, (14.43) 2, Tyler Lawson, H-Bay, (11.17) 3, Johnny Hicks, Gis, (9.93) 4

Open Women's Final

Jessica Santorik, Rag, (12.17) 1, Grace Spiers, Whmata, (10.50) 2, Laura Rishworth, Mnt, (8.33) 3, Alexis Poulter, Rag, (6.33) 4